INFORMATION FOR

International Student Survey

First semester international full-time students are welcome to participate in the International Student Survey.

The International Student Survey is a research project initiated by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Bavarian State Institute for Higher Education Research and Planning (IHF) and the distance learning university FernUniversität in Hagen. The study aims to find crucial factors that determine the success of international students' studies.

The project is a longitudinal study which involves asking students about their academic studies and their academic progress several times over a period of two-and-a-half years.

International full-time students are welcome to participate in the study by registering on

Within four weeks after registration you will be informed about whether you were accepted for the study. Along with that you will receive a link that will take you to the first survey.

What do I gain by taking part in the study?

Your experiences and opinions play an important role in our efforts to continue improving study conditions and increasing the completion rates of international students at German higher education institutions. After the first survey, each participant will receive an Amazon voucher worth EUR 10 from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

After the final survey, you will receive another Amazon voucher worth EUR 10. In addition, after each interim survey, there will be a prize draw with the chance to win attractive prizes including laptops, iPads and Amazon vouchers worth up to EUR 100. Participants who have taken part in the first survey, the final survey and all the interim surveys will also have the chance to win one of five travel vouchers worth EUR 1,000.

Protecting your data is important to us

The study is not being carried out for commercial interests – the sole objective is to gain academic insights to support improvement in this area. Your participation in the study is voluntary and you can withdraw at any time without giving a reason. The personal information and data that you provide are treated as highly confidential in compliance with the applicable data protection regulations. They are analysed in an anonymised format and used only for academic purposes. This will be ensured through a separation between your personal information (e.g. email address) and the questionnaire data. This means individuals cannot be identified during the analysis of the questionnaire data.

Our university would be delighted if you would participate in the study. Please do not hesitate to contact Dr Jesús Pineda at international-student-surveydaad.de at any time if you have any questions.